Unemployment rate falls below 4 percent in Northern Virginia

The jobless rate in Northern Virginia fell below 4 percent in December as unemployment continued to decline in the commonwealth’s metro areas.

The Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., recorded a jobless rate of 3.9 percent in December, down one tenth of a percentage point from November, according to the Virginia Employment Commission.

In addition, the unemployment rates in four other metro areas fell below 5 percent: Charlottesville, Harrisonburg, Roanoke and Winchester.

The figures are “not seasonally adjusted,” according to the VEC, meaning they do not take seasonal trends in the labor market into account.

Jobless rates also fell in three “micropolitan” areas: Culpeper, Martinsville and Staunton-Waynesboro.